Construction jobsite computer data network and location system

ABSTRACT

A jobsite computer network has a local server connectable to a remote server via the internet, a network access transceiver connected to the local server, and a wireless device in wireless communication with the network access transceiver. The network access transceiver receives a message from the wireless device and sends a message to the local server. The local server utilizes information from the message to determine the location of the wireless device. The network access transceiver and/or the wireless device generate data which is sent to the remote server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application derives priority from U.S. Application No.62/370,292, filed on Aug. 3, 2016, entitled CONSTRUCTION JOBSITECOMPUTER DATA NETWORK AND LOCATION SYSTEM, and U.S. Application No.62/422,270, filed on Nov. 15, 2016, entitled CONSTRUCTION JOBSITECOMPUTER DATA NETWORK AND LOCATION SYSTEM, both of which are herebyincorporated in full by reference.

FIELD

The present invention relates to computer data network systems,especially to network systems including wireless location systems foruse in construction jobsites, in which wireless mobile devices such astags, transponders and/or mobile communications devices are located, andpreferably tracked, by means of wireless signal transmissions.

BACKGROUND

Location systems are used for locating, and preferably tracking,articles and/or people associated with respective wireless mobiledevices. Location systems are used in a wide range of environments,including hospitals and other healthcare situations, social careenvironments, prisons, industrial locations, warehouses, retail stores,educational institutions, offices and logistics environments, forexample. Such systems are used for locating and tracking patients(especially babies and the elderly) and other categories of people, andfor locating and tracking medical supplies, equipment, products, toolsand other categories of articles.

However, such location systems have not been implemented in constructionjobsites due to the lack of network infrastructure, the lack of durablenetwork components, and the inability to provide a temporary networkthat is easily assembled at the beginning or the construction projectand disassembled after the construction project has been completed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a network in which embodiments of theinvention may be implemented;

FIGS. 2A-2C illustrate a network access transceiver, where FIGS. 2A-2Bare front and right side views, respectively, thereof, and FIG. 2C is ablock diagram illustrating different components of such transceiver;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a local computer disposed in a boxassembly according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer network 100 in a construction jobsite. Thecomputer network 100 preferably includes a local server 101 connected tothe internet 102. Persons skilled in the art will recognize that localserver 101 is preferably connected to the internet 102 via at least oneof the following connections: digital subscriber lines (DSL), asymmetricdigital subscriber lines (ADSL), symmetric digital subscriber lines(SDSL), very high digital subscriber lines (VDSL), cable-broadbandinternet connection, wireless broadband connection, T-1 lines, bondedT-1 lines, T-3 lines, optical carrier lines (OC3), internet oversatellite (IoS), etc.

Referring to FIG. 3, local server 101 may be disposed in a heavy-dutyjobsite box 101B, which is preferably made of steel. Jobsite box 101Bmay have hinged lockable doors 101B for providing access to local server101 and/or to other compartments within. As shown in FIG. 3, suchcompartments may be used to store transceivers 104, as well as othercables, power strips, etc.

Computer network may also include network access transceivers 104.Transceivers 104 may be connectable to the local server 101 via a wiredconnection, such as an Ethernet network, and/or one or more of a varietyof wireless technologies, including: wireless local area network (WLAN)technologies; wireless personal area network (WPAN) technologies(including low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN)technologies); radio frequency identification (RFID); ultra-wideband(UWB); ultrasound; sound; infrared; visible light; camera vision, etc.Included in WLAN technologies are those conforming to the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards(e.g. Wi-Fi™). Included in WPAN and LR-WPAN technologies are thoseconforming to the IEEE 802.15 series of standards (e.g. Bluetooth™,ZigBee™, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 2A-2B, transceiver 104 may have a housing 104H forsupporting and/or containing the different electronic components oftransceiver 104. In order to make transceiver 104 more rugged for aconstruction jobsite, housing 104H may have shield or tubes 104T made ofaluminium, or other suitable material. Preferably, shield or tubes 104Tare made of a plastic, such as ABS or polypropylene. The shield or tubes104T may be injection-molded.

Alternatively, when the shield is shaped as a tube, the plastic may beinjected into a mold (preferably about half the volume needed tocomplete fill the mold and thus filling half of the mold), then air orgas is blown therein, pushing the plastic into the other half of themold, forming a hollow tube. This process is known as gas-assistinjection molding.

Preferably the protective shield or tubes 104T are flexibly connected tothe housing 104H in the manner disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,070,which is hereby fully incorporated by reference. As taught in suchpatent, at least one flexible connector assembly is disposed betweenhousing 104H and protective shield or tubes 104T.

Housing 104H may have a chamber 104CH for receiving power tool batterypacks 106 therein. Chamber 104CH may terminals 105BCT for connecting oneor more power tool battery packs 106 to a charger circuit 105BC (shownin FIG. 2C).

A wall 104W may be disposed in chamber 104CH for separating theterminals 105BCT (and power tool battery packs 106). Wall 104W may havea loop 104WL at its end.

A removable plate 104R may be moved between a first position separatefrom housing 104H and a second position adjacent to housing 104H, whereloop 104WL extends through plate 104R. A lock 104P may then be attachedto loop 104WL, locking plate 104R in the second position.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that it is preferable to havethe direction of plate 104R's movement between the second and firstpositions be in the same direction as the movement for removing powertool battery pack 106 from terminals 105BCT.

In FIG. 2A, since power tool battery packs 106 have a slidingrail-and-groove configuration, in order to remove power tool batterypack 106 from terminals 105BCT, the power tool battery pack 106 wouldhave to be moved downwardly. By having plate 104R locked in the secondposition, the user will not be able to move downwardly power toolbattery pack 106. Therefore, power tool battery pack 106 would not beremovable from chamber 104CH.

Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2C, housing 104H preferably supports display104D, on/off switch 104S and/or Ethernet port(s) 104E.

Transceiver 104 may have a power cord 104C which is connected to anAC/DC power supply 105PS. Power cord 104 may be wrapped around twocordwraps 104CW disposed on housing 104H and/or tube 104T.

Referring to FIG. 2B, housing 104H may have a bracket 104B for hangingor attaching transceiver to a wall or other support surface. Bracket104B may have apertures for catching unto nails, screws, otherfasteners, etc. A strap (not shown) may also be attached to bracket 104Bfor fastening transceiver 104 unto a pole, etc.

Referring to FIG. 2A, housing 104H may have a handle 104HH forfacilitating carrying of transceiver 104.

Referring to FIG. 2C, transceiver 104 may have one or more chargercircuits 105BC for charging power tool battery packs 106. Chargercircuits 105BC may receive power for charging power tool battery packs106 from AC/DC power supply 105PS.

Persons skilled in the will recognize that other components intransceiver 104 may be powered by AC/DC power supply 105PS and/or powertool battery packs 106 via charger circuits 105BC. Preferably AC/DCpower supply 105PS and charger circuit(s) 105BC are connected to a powersource selector circuit 105PSS, which selects the power source.

An exemplary power source selector circuit 105PSS is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 7,835,534, which is hereby fully incorporated by reference. Assuch, AC/DC power supply 105PS may power the different circuits intransceiver 104 and charger circuit(s) 105BC (thus charging power toolbattery packs 106). If no power is available from AC/DC power supply105PS, power source selector circuit 105PSS may select to tap into theaccumulated power in power tool battery packs 106 via charger circuits105BC.

Transceiver 104 has a controller 105C which controls many (if not most)of the different components in transceiver 104. For example controller105C may control and/or receive information from AC/DC power supply105PS and/or charger circuits 105BC.

Controller 105 may also control display 104D. Display 104D may have aliquid crystal display (LCD), such as a thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD,in-plane switching (IPS) LCD, Super LCD (S-LCD), etc., an organic lightemitting diode (OLED) display or active-matrix organic light emittingdiode (AMOLED) display, etc. Display 104D may include high intensitymulti-color LEDs. Preferably display 104D has an area of at least 4square inches, so that it is easily visible from a distance. To improvethe visibility of the display 104D, it may be desirable to provideengraved features in the bezel or lens of display 104D to concentratethe emission of the light (thus increasing intensity) in one or morepre-determined viewing angles.

Controller 105C may also control different communication circuits,including for example, an Ethernet circuit 105E (which may transmitand/or receive information from Ethernet port(s) 104E), and/or wirelesscommunication circuits. These wireless communication circuits mayinclude a Bluetooth® circuit 105B for transmitting and/or receivingsignals and data packaged according to the Bluetooth® protocol from anantenna 105BA, a WLAN/Wi-Fi circuit 105W for transmitting and/orreceiving signals and data packaged according to the IEEE 802.11standard from an antenna 105WA, a wireless personal area network circuit(WPAN) circuit 105Z for transmitting and/or receiving signals and datapackaged according to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard from an antenna 105UZ,an ultra-wideband (UWB) circuit 105U for transmitting and/or receivingsignals and data packaged according to the IEEE 802.154 standard from anantenna 105UA, and/or a cellular network circuit 105X for transmittingand/or receiving signals and data packaged according to the differentcell data standards (such as the Mobile WiMAX or Long Term Evolution(LTE) standards) from an antenna 105XA. Persons skilled in the art shallrecognize that WPAN circuit 105Z may be a low-rate wireless personalarea network (LR-WPAN) circuit, which could transmit signals under oneor more of the following specifications: Zigbee, ISA 100.11a,WirelessHART, MiWi, and Thread.

Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that cellular network circuit105X can be provided within housing 104H. Alternatively, cell network105X may be provided as a separate cellular modem that is connectable totransceiver 104 and/or controller 105.

Such different wireless communication circuits allow transceiver 104 tocommunicate with different device, such as personal computing devices(such as tablets or smartphones 111), and tags 107 disposed or attachedto an asset, such as a power tool 108, a wearable item 109 (such as avest or helmet) worn by a worker, and/or a construction material 110(such as boards, pipes, slabs, etc.), etc. Persons skilled in the artwill recognize that smartphones 111 and tags 107 may use more than onecommunication protocol to communicate with transceiver 104. For examplesmartphone 111 may communicate with transceiver 104 via Bluetoothcircuit 105B and WLAN/Wi-Fi circuit 105W, etc. Similarly, tag 107 maycommunicate with transceiver 104 via Bluetooth circuit 105B andWLAN/Wi-Fi circuit 105W, etc. Persons skilled in the art are referred toU.S. Pat. No. 9,357,348, which is hereby fully incorporated byreference, for further information on the functionality and componentsof tag 107.

With such arrangement, controller 105 can send a message via theEthernet or wireless communication circuits to local server 101 if ACpower is lost at the AC/DC power supply 105B. Controller 105 may alsoread status information from power tool battery pack 106 and pass suchdata to local server 101 via the Ethernet or wireless communicationcircuits. Local server 101 can then pass such data along to centralserver 103 if so desired.

Alternatively local server 101 or smartphone 111 may send a message tocontroller 105 via Ethernet or wireless communication. This messagecould be formatted to contain control commands that would be interpretedby controller 105 to affect the one or more of the devices controlled bycontroller 105. Examples of this behaviour would be controller 105receives a command via wired Ethernet to turn off power to the wirelesscommunication circuits 105B, 10W, 105U and/or 105Z during periods ofjobsite inactivity. Another example would be where controller 105receives a command wirelessly from a smartphone 111 to blink an LED 104Dof a specific transceiver 104 in a certain pattern, allowing a user tovisually identify the specific transceiver 104.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that the network 100 may havemultiple transceivers 104. Preferably transceivers 104 are configured ina mesh network which are directly and/or indirectly connected to localserver 101, which may act as a gateway to the Internet 102.Alternatively one or more of the transceivers 104 may be configured toact as a gateway to the internet 102. Persons skilled in the art arereferred to U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,341,289 and 9,319,922, which areincorporated herein, for further information on mesh networkconfigurations.

Because of the multiple transceivers 104 in network 100 are disposedthroughout the construction jobsite, such arrangement results in areliable network that would stay active even if AC power is lost (due tothe transceivers 104 being powerable by the power tool battery packs106). In addition, such arrangement allows for workers to have access tocharged power tool battery packs 106 and/or chargers for charging apower tool battery pack 106 by simply locating one of the manytransceivers 104 throughout the jobsite.

It is preferable to have location services provided in the network 100.Persons skilled in the art will recognize that any of the wirelesscommunication circuits in transceiver 104 could be used for real timelocation services. For the sake of brevity the following discussion willfocus on the UWB circuit 105U being used as such. However personsskilled in the art shall recognize that any of the other wirelesscommunication circuits may be used in a similar manner.

The UWB circuit 105U preferably has a radio circuit 105UR for generatingand/or converting radio signals. In addition, UWB circuit 105U may havea UWB location services circuit 105UL for receiving signals from a tag107 disposed or attached to an asset, such as a power tool 108, awearable item 109 (such as a vest or helmet) worn by a worker, and/or aconstruction material 110 (such as boards, pipes, slabs, etc.). The datareceived from such tags 107 can be analysed by the UWB location servicescircuit 105UL. The resulting data can then be sent to local server 101and/or central server 103 for further analysis, reporting, transmissionto a central server 103, etc.

Preferably local server 101 and/or central server 103 know the exactlocation of at least three transceivers 104, either using the GPScoordinates for each transceiver 104 (obtained via GPS receiver circuit105G) and/or by the installers providing the transceivers' position databased on the design floor plan and/or Building Information Modeling(BIM) data. When an additional transceiver 104 is added to the network100, the original three transceivers can receive data received from theadditional transceiver 104, which is then analysed by the UWB locationservices circuit 105UL of each original transceiver 104. The resultingdata can then be sent to local server 101 and/or central server 103 forfurther analysis, reporting, transmission to a central server 103, etc.In such manner, the location of the added transceiver 104 is calculatedand added to the location database in local server 101 and/or centralserver 103.

Tag 107 may be built integrally into the wearable item 109. Personsskilled in the art are referred to U.S. Pat. No. 9,177,458, which isfully incorporated by reference, for further information. Wearable item109 and/or tag 107 may even include a sensor 109S for sensing acondition of the user, such as heart rate, temperature, vibrationexposure, etc., or an ambient condition, such as temperature, humidity,etc.

Tags 107 and/or mobile communications and/or computer devices (such assmartphone 111) may communicate with transceivers 104 in an activeand/or a passive manner(s). For example, tags 107 and/or smartphones 111may periodically emit wireless signals indicating their presence, thusfunctioning as active “beacons.” Some of these signals may include anidentification message, basically saying “this is tag 0189” or “this issmartphone 3426”.

Alternatively tags 107 and/or smartphone 111 may function astransponders, only emitting a wireless signals in response to wirelesssignals emitted by other wireless emitters of the system. For example,if a transceiver 104 is emitting a wireless signal received by tag 107,tag 107 may respond by sending another wireless signal. In someinstances, some of these signals may include an identification message.If for example transceiver 104 sends a signal basically saying “this istransceiver 675”, the tag 107 may receive such signal and add its ownidentification message, to basically say “this is tag 0189, which is nownear transceiver 675.”

Such data messages can be used to calculate the location of thedifferent tags 107 and other mobile communications and/or computerdevices. In addition, other techniques may also be used to furthercalculate the location of such devices, including for example,time-of-arrival (TOA) where the times at which wireless transmissionsfrom a tag 107 are received at multiple transceivers 104 are used tocalculate the location of tag 107. Another technique calculates thedifferences in times-of-arrival between different wireless transceivers104 and uses the calculated time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA)information to calculate the location of the tag 107. In thesearrangements, the UWB location services circuit 105UL in the differenttransceivers 104 which received a signal from tag 107 would forward theTOA information to the local server 101, which would then process theTOA information, calculate the TDOA information and/or calculate thelocation of tag 107.

It may be preferable to provide transceiver 104 with a barometric sensorcircuit 105H. The barometric sensor circuit 105H may be connected tocontroller 105C. Controller 105C can analyse the data received from thebarometric sensor circuit 105H, and transmit such data, the results ofthe data analysis, or an instruction related to such data via at leastone of the different communication circuits 105B, 105W, 105E, 105Z,105X, etc. Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that thebarometric data may be indicative of the altitude of transceiver 104,and/or of the floor in which the particular transceiver 104 is locatedin a multi-floor building.

Accordingly, the transceiver 104 may send a signal to the local server101 and/or central server 103 to basically say “this is transceiver 675,and the barometric pressure is 760 torr.” Local server 101 and/orcentral server 103 could then calculate the altitude of transceiver 104based on the barometric pressure.

Alternatively the transceiver 104 may send a signal to the local server101 and/or central server 103 to basically say “this is transceiver 675,which is estimated to be on the fourth floor.” Local server 101 and/orcentral server 103 can correlate such information with other incomingdata. For example, if a tag 107 sends a signal to the local server 101and/or central server 103 that basically says “this is tag 0189, whichis now near transceiver 675,” local server 101 and/or central server 103can display such tag 107 to be also located on the fourth floor.

Persons skilled in the art will recognize that tag 107 may also have abarometric sensor circuit and provide similar information to localserver 101 and/or central server 103. Persons skilled in the art willrecognize that local server 101 and/or central server 103 may receivebarometric data from both the tag 107 and transceiver 104. Local server101 and/or central server 103 may compare such data. If the differenceis within a certain threshold, local server 101 and/or central server103 can determine that both tag 107 and transceiver 104 are on the samefloor. Alternatively, local server 101 and/or central server 103 cancompare the barometric data from tag 107 to the barometric data of atransceiver 104 located on the ground floor to determine in which floortag 107 is located at the moment.

It may be preferable to provide transceiver 104 with a globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver circuit 105G. The GPS receiver circuit105G may be connected to controller 105C. The GPS receiver circuit 105Gcan provide controller 105C with location data. Alternatively controller105C can analyse the data received from the GPS receiver circuit 105G,and transmit such data, the results of the data analysis, or aninstruction related to such data via at least one of the differentcommunication circuits 105B, 105W, 105E, 105Z, 105X, etc.

Additionally or alternatively, the UWB location services circuit 105ULin the different transceivers 104 which received a signal from tag 107may also calculate the received signal strengths (e.g. received signalstrength indication, RSSI) information, angle of arrival (AOA)information, and/or round-trip time (RTT) information and forward to thelocal server 101 for further analysis. This Information could be forwardin turn to the central server 103 via internet 102.

Persons skilled in the art are directed to US Publication Nos.2015/0156746 and 2015/0185309, which are fully incorporated herein byreference, for more discussion on other location techniques usable tocalculate the location of tag 107, etc.

Once the local server 101 and/or central server 103 have calculated thelocation of a particular tag 107 (or other mobile communications and/orcomputer device), such location can be displayed on a map shown in thedisplay of local server 101, central server 103, smartphone 111, etc.Preferably such map is derived from Building Information Modeling (BIM)data. Such map can be generated by local server 101 based on the BIMdata downloaded unto local server. Alternatively, such map can begenerated by the central server 103 from the BIM data.

If the tag 107 is determined to be outside of a predetermined perimeteror area, local server 101 and/or central server 103 can send a messageto a user (such as a text message or email sent to a foreman'ssmartphone 111, a notification placed on an app or website, etc.), soundor activate an alarm 112 in the jobsite, send a deactivation message tothe particular tag 107 that would deactivate a device connected to tag107, and/or send an alarm activation message to the tag 107 to activatea piezo element in tag 107 to make an alarm sound, etc.

Persons skilled in the art shall recognize that network 100 allows fordata, such as BIM data, to be downloaded into local server 101, and thenpassed along transceiver(s) 104 to a particular tablet or smartphone111. Similarly, data transmitted by tag 107, smartphone 111 and/or anindividual transceiver 104 can be passed along to local server 101 viamultiple transceiver(s) 104 (acting as repeaters). If desired, localserver 101 can then send such data a central server 103 for storage,analysis, etc. Such data may include the number of tags 107 on site, thenumber of tags 107 assigned to people, tools and/or assets (and thus thenumber of people, tools and/or assets on site during a particular timeperiod), the number of times tags 107 (or particular individuals) wentbeyond a particular perimeter, data from sensors 109S, etc.

Because transceiver(s) 104 have a Bluetooth communication circuit 105B,the transceiver(s) 104 can communicate with devices, such as circularsaw 113 (shown in FIG. 1), that have a Bluetooth communication circuits,such as circuit 113B. With such arrangement, transceiver(s) 104 canenable communications between circular saw 113 and an out-of-rangepaired computing device, such as smartphone 111 or local server 101.Persons skilled in the art will recognize that circular saw 113 (andother power tools) may be programmed and/or controlled by a computingdevice, such as smartphone 111, allowing the user to change parameters,such as maximum speed, maximum torque, trigger/speed profiles,soft-start ramp-up periods, etc., as well as turning on/off the circularsaw 113, etc. Such arrangements are further described in US PublicationNos. 2014/0367134 and 2014/0107853, and PCT Publication No. WO2013/116303, all being fully incorporated herein by reference. Personsskilled in the art should recognize that smartphone 111 may not even beon the jobsite to program circular saw 113, as smartphone 111 caninteract with central server 103, which then relays the commands to thecircular saw 113 via local server 101, transceiver(s) 104 and/or tags107.

In one embodiment, circular saw 113 may have been programmed to turn offpower thereto if it does not receive a Bluetooth communication signalfrom the paired smartphone 111. Because transceiver(s) 104 effectivelyextend the communication range between smartphone 111 and circular saw113, circular saw 113 may send a message to smartphone 111 (which isrelayed by transceiver(s) 104), noting that circular saw 113 is notreceiving a direct communication from smartphone 111 and is insteadreceiving a relayed communication (and is thus farther than apredetermined distance). Circular saw 113 (or the app in smartphone 111)may then query the user whether the user wants to power off circular saw113, or to blink lights/LEDs on circular saw 113 to help locate it inthe jobsite.

The system 100 can also use Bluetooth® (and/or other variants, such asBluetooth Low Energy (BLE)), to keep track of items that do not have atag 107 that can process, for example, UWB signals. For example,circular saw 113 may have a Bluetooth communication circuits, such ascircuit 113B, but no UWB communication circuit. System 100 can keeptrack of such items by allowing tags 107 and/or transceiver(s) 104 toreceive the Bluetooth signal emitted from circuit 113B. Tags 107 and/ortransceiver(s) 104 can pass along a message to local server 101 and/orcentral server 103 that they have received a message from circuit 113B.Local server 101 and/or central server 103 can use then calculate theposition of circuit 113B (and thus of circular saw 113) based on suchmessages, using triangulation, RSSI and/or other location calculationtechniques and algorithms.

Local server 101 and/or central server 103 can continue monitoring thelocation of circular saw 113 until no other tags 107 and/ortransceiver(s) 104 receives a message from circuit 113B. In that case,local server 101 and/or central server can display or note the lastcalculated position for such circuit 113B

It will be understood that the above description and the drawings areexamples of particular implementations of the invention, but that otherimplementations of the invention are included in the scope of theclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A jobsite computer network comprising: a localserver connectable to a remote server via the internet; a first networkaccess transceiver connected to the local server, the first networkaccess transceiver comprising a housing and a protective tube attachedto the housing; and a first wireless device in wireless communicationwith the first network access transceiver, wherein the first wirelessdevice is one of a tag and a power tool; a second wireless device inwireless communication with the first wireless device; wherein the firstnetwork access transceiver receives a first message from the firstwireless device and sends a second message to the local server, and thelocal server utilizes information from the second message to determinethe location of the first wireless device; wherein at least one of thefirst network access transceiver and the first wireless device generatedata which is sent to the remote server; and wherein the first wirelessdevice receives a third message from the second wireless device, thefirst wireless device then sends a fourth message to the first networkaccess transceiver, which then sends a fifth message to the localserver, and the local server utilizes information from the fifth messageto determine the location of the second wireless device.
 2. The jobsitecomputer network of claim 1, wherein the local server storesconstruction plan data.
 3. The jobsite computer network of claim 1,wherein the local server is disposed within a jobsite box.
 4. Thejobsite computer network of claim 3, wherein the jobsite box is made ofsteel.
 5. The jobsite computer network of claim 1, wherein the firstnetwork access transceiver is connected to the local server via at leastone of a wired connection and a wireless connection.
 6. The jobsitecomputer network of claim 1, wherein the first network accesstransceiver has a terminal connectable to a removable power tool batterypack.
 7. The jobsite computer network of claim 6, wherein the firstnetwork access transceiver has a lockable feature on the housing forpreventing removal of the power tool battery pack.
 8. The jobsitecomputer network of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first networkaccess transceiver and the first wireless device have a barometricsensor so that the local server can determine an elevation of the firstwireless device.
 9. The jobsite computer network of claim 1, wherein thesecond wireless device generates data which is sent to the remoteserver.
 10. The jobsite computer network of claim 1, wherein at leastone of the local server and the first network access transceivergenerates an alarm if the first wireless device is determined to beoutside a predetermined location.
 11. The jobsite computer network ofclaim 1, wherein at least one of the local server and the first networkaccess transceiver send data to the first wireless device.
 12. Thejobsite computer network of claim 11, wherein the data sent by the atleast one of the local server and the first network access transceivereffects an operational change in the first wireless device.